Her crimson ombre hair resembling the blazing flames of fire danced in air as she rushed through the middle of a deep, foreboding forest.

It was late afternoon and was getting dark with each passing second. Howls and roars of wild beasts echoed beyond the frightening forest raising several chills down her spine. Her heart was pacing violently in her chest.

She could feel her limbs getting numb with her strength fading slowly. "Damn it! I'm so tired and I haven't eaten anything for almost 18 hours now."

She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands tightly, forcing herself to keep on moving. "I shouldn't have wandered around too much. If they noticed that I'm still not back yet I'd be in a big trouble."

She huffed, followed by a sigh of regret.

"Aaaahhhh!" A sudden ear-splitting voice startled her.

She stopped in her tracks and quickly looked behind. "Wha- what was that?Don't tell me, someone got attacked by a wild beast?"

Her hands and feet grew cold and she gulped hard. "I should- probably go and check it."

She searched around a bit and picked-up a broken tree branch from the ground. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves, before cautiously moving forward.

After crossing a thick, foggy path of trees, she saw blood stains on the ground, pointing into the deepest part of the forest.

She followed the trace and was shocked upon seeing a whole pack of wolves laying lifelessly on the ground. They were killed brutally. Their limbs were cut apart from their bodies and their eyes had been gouged out.

She trembled with horror. The tree branch she was holding fell down and she quickly covered her nose to block the bloody, nauseating stench.

"This- This is horrible. What on earth happened here? Who killed so many wolves? I- I need to go back and inform the police about it." She turned around to leave but suddenly a loud splash of water was heard from behind her.

Her body froze in that instant. She could feel a bone chilling sensation creeping up her spine. "Is- Is the killer still here?" The thought filled her heart with tremendous fear.

"No! No! I need to get out of here as soon as possible otherwise, It might come back and kill me as well." She bit hard on her lip, trying to pull herself together and start moving again.

She staggered her way out of there and ran as fast as she could. She only dared to stop after crossing a considerable distance.

She heaved a sigh of relief after making sure that she was safe and no one was following her. She leaned against a large tree, closed her eyes and slid down, falling onto the ground, her nerves finally calming down.

She held her legs close to her chest and put her head on her knees. Tears dwelled up in her eyes and in less than a minute she was sobbing and crying. "Why is such a horrible thing happening to me?"

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After what felt like an eternity, she suddenly felt a tingling sensation on her hand, which pulled her back into reality. Something soft, smooth and slippery was curling itself on her index finger.

She lifted her head and a gentle smile made its way onto her soft, pinkish lips. A warmth swept across her heart as soon as her emerald eyes fell on the little beast before her.

White as snow, pure as fire and soft as fur, there was a small rabbit licking her finger. Seeing this cute buddy, looking at her with its big shiny eyes, she couldn't help but giggle. "How cute!"

She moved her hand forward to pet its head but it quickly sprinted away before she could even touch it. For quite some time she just blankly kept staring in the direction where the little guy had disappeared.

After a while, as if suddenly thinking something, she turned her head, looked upwards in the sky and sighed. "Its gone. It was really cute. Well, I should also get up and find my way back, it is getting dark."

Just as she was about to get up, that rabbit came back and pulled her skirt. She looked at it, smiled and gently patted its white, soft fur.

"Hey there! little buddy! You are back." Her eyes were full of warmth as she looked at it.

Seeing that the rabbit kept pulling onto her skirt, she softly asked, "What? Do you want me to follow you?"

Hearing her mention "follow" it immediately started nodding its head. She gently held its ear and rubbed with great care. "You seem to be able to understand me. Ok then! I'll go with you and see what you want to show me."

Saying that she got up and trailed behind it. She followed for some time, when the rabbit finally stopped. She was stunned by the sight in front of her eyes.

It was something she had never seen before. Despite her countless travelling experiences, to various parts of the world, this sight felt like something straight out of a fairy tale.

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Surrounded by a wide border of trees, in the middle of the forest, there was a pond. It was decorated by a hem of flowers, with colorful jade vines entangled around their stems.

Small shrubs could be seen near them. There were roses; red, black, yellow and pink, jasmine, Gibraltar champions, parrot beaks, chocolate cosmos and many other, rare and gorgeous flowers covering the edges of the pond.

Its water was so clear and pure that the visibility of one's reflection was even better than that in a mirror.

"This- This is so beautiful." She stood there silently gazing at the magical view.

She felt the presence of a powerful force that indulged her in the scene before her. "I can't believe there's such a wonderful place in this world."

The last rays of the day had created a rainbow above the pond. Tiny water droplets shining under those dim light

beams, enchanted its beauty even more.

This short lived moment passed by in the blink of an eye. Those sparkling lights disappeared and all that left was darkness, unending darkness, which pulled her out of this trance.

"Huh?" She quickly looked around and upon meeting with the cruel reality, she froze at her spot.

It was dark and she had lost her way back. "What- What should I do? How can I go ba-"

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard some movements in the trees up front. Cold chills passed down her spine. She searched for the little rabbit that led her here, but it was nowhere to be found.

"What is that? Is it the wolf killer? Did he come for me?" Her thoughts were chaotic as she stared at the trees upfront."Is it some other wild beast?"

Her legs became weak and she fell down on the ground. She looked around helplessly, hoping to find a place to hide. "Am I also going to get killed? Is it really the end-"

Just as she was about to fall into the depths of despair, the whole forest lightened up once again, but this time it wasn't the daylight.

She quickly looked up and saw a beam of moonlight, piercing through the darkness, concentrate at the center of the pond.

A small blue bud appeared under it which illuminated the forest with its luminescence. The bud shone brightly before starting to bloom.

Little fireflies from the woods accompanied it, adding more charm to its beauty. A shiny royal-blue flower with a bright transparent diamond- like gem embedded in its core, bloomed perfectly.

Instinctively, she got up to take a look at this magically bloomed flower. "This- Am I dreaming?"

She was astonished by the majestic appearance of the mysterious flower and was completely captivated by its beauty. Her beautiful emerald eyes were shining as she stared at the scene before her.

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Initially, she came to the forest because she had stumbled upon this mysterious book which suddenly appeared before the entrance of her tent last week. She asked around but no one claimed that book, so she had no choice but to keep it.

That night she couldn't fall asleep and decided to read the book. Its pages had turned a shade of brown and were ripped from various points, indicating the fact that the book had been around for a very, very long time.

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The book recorded a tale about a girl whose mother was terminally ill and in order to gather herbs for her treatment the girl had no choice but to enter a nearby forest.

There was a rumor in the village that the forest contained a mysterious flower which had such profound healing abilities that it could bring dead back to life. Thus, the girl took it upon herself to find this rare flower.

She searched for a long time, roaming around the depths of the forest in search for the flower that could cure her mother.

And just like that 3 months passed. The villagers heard no news of the girl and her mother was nearing her end. Everyone thought that the girl had probably died in there, becoming the prey of some wild beast.

Just as all hope was lost, the girl suddenly came back. She carried with herself a single petal. Its color dull, indicating that it had withered a long time ago.

The girl fed that petal to her mother and the old woman who was on the brink of death just a moment ago, miraculously recovered.

When she was asked how and where she obtained that petal or which flower did it belong to, the girl had no memories of it. But since then the rumors spread far and wide like wildfire and countless people entered the forest but no one succeeded in finding the flower they desired.

In fact, everyone who entered that forest disappeared and never came out. Eventually, people stopped entering the forest and everything regarding the flower became nothing more than just another tale, out of many others, with no witness.

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By the time she finished the book, it was almost 3 in the morning and without much thought she turned off the lamp and drifted off to sleep.

The next day when she woke up, she found that the book was gone. Disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared.

Although the book was gone, her curiosity didn't fade. Instead, it only intensified with each passing day.

And today when everyone was busy preparing for the surprise birthday party for their teacher, she sneaked off.

Tomorrow was the last day of their camping trip and she really wanted to go into the forest and see for herself whether the story about the mysterious flower was true or just some rumor, at least once before leaving for the city.

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The soft glow emanating from the beautiful flower seemed hypnotic and before long she found her senses completely gone.

Having her attention fixated solely on the flower she began to advance towards the pond. She suddenly felt a cool, trickling and rippling sensation on her feet.

She immediately looked down, only to realize that she had subconsciously entered the pond.

She frowned a little, startled by how absent-minded she had been as she didn't even notice when she entered the pond. But then, she simply shrugged and turned her gaze back onto the flower.

The powerful aura radiating from it made her unconsciously want to touch it. She extended her hand but before she could make any contact with it, a giant golden snake suddenly emerged from behind the flower and hissed at her.

She was startled by its appearance and quickly jumped back."Aaa!" The moment the snake appeared, she couldn't help but yell out loud. The giant serpent sized snake had scared the living daylights out of her.

She instinctively retreated back quite a few steps before coming to a halt. Her heart was in a turmoil and breathing unstable, due to the earlier shock.

"What the hell! Where did this snake come from?" She patted her chest to calm down and ended up cursing the snake.

But then as if realizing something she looked up and saw the snake emitting a bright glow. She abruptly closed her eyes but when she opened them again she couldn't believe what she saw.

"The- The snake- turned into a statue?" Just as she was staring at it, feeling nothing but cluelessness, helplessness, and complete confusion; the statues' bloody red eyes suddenly shone and absolute darkness took over the forest.

Before she could decide what to do next, a mist filled her mind causing her awareness to slowly drift away. Her eyelids grew heavy and her vision blurred.

"What's happening?" She tried shaking it off but her legs began to sway and she fell down as she lost her consciousness completely.

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The world seemed to be shaking and moving upside down as she slowly gained her awareness. A strangely unique but mesmerizing scent surrounded her, filling her nostrils.

She felt a tight grip on her waist. Gradually, she opened her eyes and her blurry vision cleared. Although it was dark everywhere but tiny fireflies, twinkling and shining brightly, illuminated the atmosphere.

One after another trees passed by, before her half opened eyes. She felt warm air occasionally brushing through her neck. Her whole body felt weak and powerless.

With much effort she lifted her heavy gaze and saw pink rosy lips, followed by a sharp jawline, a straight; pointed nose and a beautiful pair of crystal blue eyes, with long lashes.

More than half of his forehead was covered with bangs. She could feel his broad, wide chest pressed against her back, supporting her body.

"Wh- who are you?" Her weak, soft voice sounded as she managed to utter these words in a state of subconsciousness. She couldn't help but stare at this handsome man before her.

"What is going on here? Wasn't I just standing in front of that mysterious pond? And-that flower, that snake." Her thoughts were scattered and she couldn't think straight, as if she was awake but not fully awake, a state of subconscious.

"Who is he? Where is he taking me?" She blankly stared at the handsome, cold and godly man before her.

Despite hearing her weak and feeble voice, the guy didn't move even a single muscle on his handsome face, much less respond to her question.

She frowned, trying hard to gather her strength and wake herself from her daze.

They were riding on a horse, which galloped against the air, within the depths of the forest. The blue-eyed man was holding her with one of his hands while his other hand held the horse rein.

In the dark, his face that illuminated under the tiny short-lived glows from those thousand fireflies that surrounded them, looked ethereal; like that of a high immortals' cold, unapproachable yet extremely attractive.

As she stared at him in a daze, she wanted to ask who he was, where were they, and many such questions, but her mind was filled with haze, her thoughts unclear, body weak and felt powerless.

She couldn't feel any strength in her limbs and just like that her eyes once again grew heavy and her long lashes fell, causing her to lose her awareness.